Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"As the rate of technological development speeds up, the gap between science fiction and what we’re living now is getting narrower all the time."
- Richard Morgan
 |
| Polycarbon Phone Screen | ||
| A telephone that provides videophone capability using a very thin screen that is folded away when not in use. |
Nokia, are you paying attention? I'm just wondering if you have to wait for it to dry the first time you use it, like butterflys need to wait for their wings to dry and become stiff enough for flight.
| "We'll key that to the image on this phone." He took an elegant modular unit from the bag and placed it in front of her. A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid. She had once watched a butterfly emerge into the world, and seen the transformation of its drying wings. "How is that done?" she asked, tentatively touching the screen. It was like thin steel. "One of the new polycarbon variants," he said, "one of the Maas products . . The phone purred discreetly He positioned it more carefully in front of her, stepped to the far side of the table, and said, "Your call. Remember, you are at home!" He reached forward and brushed a titanium-coated stud. Alain's face and shoulders filled the little screen. |
| Technovelgy from Count Zero,
by William Gibson. Published by Arbor House in 1986 Additional resources -
|
Very thin screens are becoming a reality; however, the designs I've seen so far show the screen unfurling in a very pedestrian manner (rolling out like a window shade from an enclosed cylinder). Clients would not fail to be impressed by this phone, which could be used by more than one person (unlike the screens on current cell phones, which one person can barely see).
I'm wondering whether you could make a disposable screen of this kind, by analogy to "instant" photography. The film used in these cameras contains developer chemicals that are released when you eject the (all black) picture from the camera by squeezing it between rollers.
Compare to the flexible car map from Heavy Weather (1994) by Bruce Sterling and the folding terminal from The Mountain in the Sea (2022) by Ray Naylor.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Count Zero
More Ideas
and Technology by William Gibson
Tech news articles related to Count Zero
Tech news articles related to works by William Gibson
Polycarbon Phone Screen-related
news articles:
- Philips Readius E-Reader With Rollable Display
- Origami Cell Phone Concept
- Butterfly Wing Phone Screen
- Philips Readius E-Ink Video
- Polymer Vision Readius With Merely Foldable Display
- Readius Rollable Display Starts Mass Production
- Readius Cell Phone 5-Inch Fold Out Display
- Readius Polymer Vison E-Ink Video
- Samsung Folding Screen Cell Phone Video
- Self-Folding 'Origami Robot' Smart Sheet
- Razer Project Valerie Laptop Unfurls
- PaperPhone Uses Bend Gestures
- SEL 3-Fold OLED 9 Inch Display Is Pocket-Sized!
- Do You Still Want A Folding Screen Phone?
- FlexPai Foldable Phone By Royole
- Unfurl The Future! Huawei Mate X versus Galaxy Fold
- LG Wing Twisting Smartphone Might Be Fun
- Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
| Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus |
| Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone |
| Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA |
| Will Whales Be Our First Contact? |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
